Crazy times!
Although at Harford Chabad we are celebrating Simchas Torah with social distanced, safe and masked celebrations, we are encouraging people to stay home and not celebrate with us if it will put them at risk!
Even at Chabad, the Torahs won’t be passed around to keep to the ‘social distancing’ guidelines.
Israel is in complete lockdown. How are they celebrating Simchat Torah? By keeping the Torah locked in the ark!
Is this the way to celebrate? Is the Torah being celebrated when we can’t dance with it?
The answer is a resounding yes! We see this clearly from the last words in the Torah:
“Moses, the servant of G-d, died there in the land of Moab... And there arose not since a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom G-d knew face to face; all the signs and wonders which G-d sent to do in the land of Egypt... that mighty hand, those great fearsome deeds, which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.”
What did Moses do “before the eyes of all Israel?” Rashi, in his commentary on Torah, explains “That his heart emboldened him to break the tablets before their eyes, as it is written, ‘and I broke them before your eyes.’ G-d's opinion then concurred with his opinion, as it is written, ‘which you broke—I affirm your strength for having broken them.”
Why does the Torah choose this tragic and devastating episode to capture the zenith of Moses’ life and as the theme with which to conclude the entire Torah, all five books of Moses?!
Moses spent his life with two allegiances:
- The Torah teacher - Moses was the purveyor of Torah, he gave the Torah to the Jewish people.
- The Shepherd of the Jewish people - Moses is referred to as a faithful shepherd.
When he came down from the mountain, Moses needed to make a decision. Who/what is more important? If I allow the tablets to remain whole, showing that the Torah is of utmost importance, then the Jews are violating the Torah by serving the golden calf and will likely be punished for their idol worship. Or I can demonstrate that the Jews are more important by smashing the tablets containing the Torah to smithereens. In this case, when G-d claims the Jews violated the commandment not to serve idols, Moses can say the Torah doesn’t yet apply to them.
Moses did not hesitate. The People come before the Bible. And that was his biggest life accomplishment. And G-d agreed with him: “I affirm your strength for having broken them”.
For those celebrating Simchat Torah at home to protect your health, we don’t want you to join us! You too need to make the distinction. Is celebrating the Torah more important or is my health more important?
And the answer is clear.
Make sure you celebrate Simchas Torah, by choosing Torah which says to take care of your health first and if it is safe, join us!
A great story
Mrs. Ashkenazi returned home exhausted from the birth of her third child, shortly after having two sons! She worried about everything that awaited her at home, the kids, the toys, the mess etc.
Suddenly the phone rang and a woman's voice was on the line: she asked where they lived and how many people lived in the house.
The next morning, there was a knock on the door and in the doorway a perfect breakfast was waiting. At noon, cooked dishes arrived for the whole family. In the afternoon, 2 girls arrived to take the toddlers to the playground.
The family thought maybe it was a one-time miracle. Yet the miracle lasted more days then Hanukkah, a month from birth.
How? Why? What motivates women to dedicate themselves so much to benefit other women they do not know at all?
The answer is that forty years earlier, on Yom Kippur 1976, 770 Eastern Parkway was full to capacity. On one of the benches sat Rabbi Shlomo Maidentsik, thinking to himself and engaged in personal soul-searching. Throughout the year he worked tirelessly. In the early hours of the morning he would go to work as a driver for Israel Railways. Throughout the day he would lead passengers from one end of the country to the other. When he had finished the work towards evening, he would begin the campaign of advocacy for the benefit of the village in Kfar Chabad.
He would run from one government office to another to advance Kfar Chabad matters. And now, midday on Yom Kippur, thousands of kilometers from home, he just wanted some quiet, to be able to do his personal spiritual service on the holiest day of the year.
Suddenly he felt a touch on his shoulder: You are being called upstairs, to the secretariat of the Lubavitcher Rebbe! Now? At noon on Yom Kippur? What could be so important? Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Hodakov received him with a serious face and said that the Rebbe was disturbed by the situation of the women giving birth in the village. They return home tired and exhausted from childbirth and do not find the strength to take care of the house. The Rebbe proposed setting up an organization called Shifra and Puah, named after the heroic midwives in Egypt, who would give the mothers all the support. The Rebbe said: they should take care from the birth until the child gets into a stroller. Of course Shlomo agreed. Later, after the evening services of Yom Kippur, when people run to break their fast, Rabbi Maidentsik was called again to the secretariat. Rabbi Hodakov handed him a thousand dollars and said it was the initial participation from the Rebbe in the establishment of the institution.
Think Yom Kippur at noon, the Lubavitcher Rebbe was busy with the sublime matters of the world. Rabbi Maidenzik is thousands of kilometers away from Kfar Chabad and cannot currently take any action to establish a new institution. And yet, what troubled the Rebbe was the health and experience of the new mothers.
This is a leader, someone who teaches us that the Torah itself agrees that the mother arriving home exhausted are the priority even midday Yom Kippur.
This is what Simchas Torah is really about! Celebrating the Torah Whether at home, or socially distanced. If your health will not be negatively affected join us. Saturday Night 7:00 PM at Chabad or Sunday 9 AM services followed by 10:30 at Shamrock Park
Looking forward to celebrating with you, in person or at home :).